The Bandabuliya (Old Market) in Cyprus renovated thanks to the EU funds by UNDP-PFF in 2006 has now reopened as a Women Cultural Center. The project called ‘’When Tradition Meets Innovation’’ was founded on this very principle of empowering local women.

Have you ever thought that a community center can be a turning point in your life? Ask Manjola. She is a divorced mother of three children, living in Berat, Albania. Challenges are enormous because she lacks education, qualification and faces stigma because she is Roma. Luckily, she has a job in a supermarket.

Dulari is a beneficiary of the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme, aimed at expanding financial services to low-income, rural and vulnerable populations in the Pacific Islands, including Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. The initiative is a joint venture by UNDP, EU and other partners.

Kong Theara beamed broadly when she was handed a seaming machine as a special prize for graduating at the top of her sewing class. “I don’t think I will be poor anymore in the future,” Kong Theara, 22, said.

Using video games in schools is an extra motivation for students, a tool with great potential to enhance their learning as "the best way to learn is by playing". When their first child was born in 2000, Rafael Rodriguez and Ada Soliz, the founders of the company Peke, decided their children will grow up playing and learning.

With the support of UNDP, EU and other partners, Georgia is strengthening its system of professional education, ensuring that thousands of young people are equipped with the knowledge and experience to compete in the labour market.

The number of early marriages in Kyrgyzstan still remains high. According to recent statistics, roughly 12 percent of brides in the country are under the age of 18. In the village of Shark in Southern Kyrgyzstan, UNDP and the EU, as part of their joint project, are helping one high school join the fight. To keep girls longer in school and thus prevent them from early marriage, the school has created sewing, cooking, and computer classes in addition to their regular curriculum.

“Blueberry farming was new in our village. People were doubtful when we started. But now, as they see our field blooming, they feel much keener to follow our example,” “says Tengiz Mikeladze from the remote village Buturauli.

The reconstruction works for both the admission department and the intensive care department for children, as well as for the maternity of the Rybnita District Hospital were carried out with the financial support of the EU-UNDP Support to Confidence Building Measures Programme.